Isis Egypt arm fires rockets into Israel from Sinai Peninsula

An Israeli army tank takes position along Israel's border with Egypt's North Sinai (seen in background). The Islamic State affiliate in Egypt, Sinai Province claimed to have fired three rockets into Israeli territory.

Islamic State's (Isis) Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, fired three rockets into southern Israel on Friday (3 July) in what it called "occupied Palestine". No damage or injuries were reported.

The projectiles were launched from the Sinai Peninsula where the militants have been carrying out a series of strikes on Egyptian military posts this week.

The group posted a statement by its supporters on Twitter claiming the attack. Remnants of two of the rockets have been found by Israeli police, says a Reuters report.

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Sinai is a strategic area which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.

The Israeli military has since closed a southern highway, part of which runs along the Egyptian border, as a safety precaution.

Israel has accused Hamas of helping Islamic State in Sinai but Hamas has denied the allegation.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chairman of Hamas's political bureau has condemned the attack.

Egyptian security sources could not confirm that the rockets were launched from Egyptian territory.

Egypt has been fighting the militants on its homeland since a deadly militant assault on 1 July.

It launched air strikes on Islamist militant targets in the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday, killing 23 fighters. Egyptian army F-16 jets and Apache helicopters bombed the region that lies within the Sinai Peninsula.

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The air strikes came a day after a wide-scale assault by Islamic State militants on several military checkpoints in Egypt's North Sinai. At least 50 people were killed, security sources said.

Netanyahu warns
Earlier in the week, Islamic State militants released a video threatening to turn Gaza into another "fiefdom" like parts of Iraq and Syria, while "uprooting the state of Jews".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the rocket strike along with brutal Islamic State terrorist attacks in Syria while condemning the UNHRC resolution to investigate war crimes in Gaza last year.

"The council has now adopted more resolutions against Israel than the total number of resolutions it has made on other countries," the premier said, adding that the UNHRC "cannot call itself a human rights council."

"Those who fear to openly attack terrorism will – in the end – be attacked by terrorism," he said.